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TTC: Major Operational Issues (Various)

txlseries4 said:
Not easy to look at on mobile. Can’t imagine the bulk of their visitors are using desktop to visit the site. Just a pile on of poor user experience…
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Still, this is very interesting. It documents what seems obvious as a semi-informed rider: that an 'RSZ' can seriously diminish your experience or be barely noticeable. Some of the Yonge ones are only a 2-3 km/h reduction, while others (especially on Spadina) are much worse. Sheppard West to Yorkdale at 15 km/h!
 
allabootmatt said:
Still, this is very interesting. It documents what seems obvious as a semi-informed rider: that an 'RSZ' can seriously diminish your experience or be barely noticeable. Some of the Yonge ones are only a 2-3 km/h reduction, while others (especially on Spadina) are much worse. Sheppard West to Yorkdale at 15 km/h!
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How many normal people look at this page at all???

BTW Steve Munro has comments.. https://stevemunro.ca/

He notes.....

"The current map and table of repair targets, as of July 31, 2025, are shown below. Note that some of the items on the map are not included in the detail (e.g. Warden to Kennedy eastbound), and the table includes entries that are not reflected on the map (e.g. Sheppard West to Wilson). This does not speak well of the TTC’s ability to communicate consistent, accurate information."
 
Rode the west side of Line 1 today for the first time since April. We all know the quantity of the slow zones have gotten worse the last few months. I will say, the slow zones that are there dont seem as bad as I thought. Notably, between Yorkdale and Lawerence on the “Finch via Union” bound (I just had to do that lol), it’s still ridiculously slow, but holy smokes, back in the winter, it literally was snail. Seemed like it sped up a few km/h.
DSCToronto said:
"The current map and table of repair targets, as of July 31, 2025, are shown below. Note that some of the items on the map are not included in the detail (e.g. Warden to Kennedy eastbound), and the table includes entries that are not reflected on the map (e.g. Sheppard West to Wilson).
This does not speak well of the TTC’s ability to communicate consistent, accurate information."
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Yeah, this has been the case for a while for EB Line 2 between Broadview and Chester. Seems somewhat better now, but during the winter, it was a traditional slow zone without being mentioned on the TTC slow zone page. I can’t remember where this was, but a few months ago, I was on Line 2 (I wanna say between Main and VP heading east, but maybe not), and this section was not considered a slow zone, but the automated voice came on saying something along the lines of “To ensure safety, this is a reduced speed zone….” something like that. So yeah, TTC’s communication is absolutely wonderful /s
 
DanielMar_Toronto said:
Rode the west side of Line 1 today for the first time since April. We all know the quantity of the slow zones have gotten worse the last few months. I will say, the slow zones that are there dont seem as bad as I thought. Notably, between Yorkdale and Lawerence on the “Finch via Union” bound (I just had to do that lol), it’s still ridiculously slow, but holy smokes, back in the winter, it literally was snail. Seemed like it sped up a few km/
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Going northbound it's easier to see why they are doing it. There are a number of places where they are replacing the ties between the rails and have removed the ballest around them. Also south of Lawrence there are a number of places where ties have rotted away in both the regular tracks and the middle storage track.
 
EastYorkTTCFan said:
Going northbound it's easier to see why they are doing it. There are a number of places where they are replacing the ties between the rails and have removed the ballest around them. Also south of Lawrence there are a number of places where ties have rotted away in both the regular tracks and the middle storage track.
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Replacement of ties should have a schedule. The fact that they let them rot like that is ridiculous.

Also why don't they use concrete ones? They last longer.
 
Bordercollie said:
Replacement of ties should have a schedule. The fact that they let them rot like that is ridiculous.

Also why don't they use concrete ones? They last longer.
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That internet says...

There are a few reasons why a railroad might choose concrete ties over wood ties, but generally they all boil down to economics. Concrete ties are a fairly new development, at least when compared to the many decades when ties were exclusively made of wood. Replacing wood ties with concrete ones is not an easy nor inexpensive task, so you mainly find concrete on lines that were built or rebuilt within the past few decades. When wood ties are damaged or wear out, it’s just easier to replace them with new wood ties rather than rebuild and re-ballast the whole track.

There’s also the matter of long term versus short term costs. Concrete ties are heavier than wood, more expensive to make and lay, and require better roadbed and ballast than many existing lines may have. Wood also does a good job at electrically isolating the rails from each other, important for signal detection. And while it’s true that concrete is more long lasting than wood, wood is more resilient to damage. Dragging equipment or a derailment that would bang up a wood tie might crack an unyielding concrete tie in half, rendering it useless. Because of this, railroads tend to place dragging-equipment detectors closer together in concrete-tie territory.
 
DSCToronto said:
That internet says...

There are a few reasons why a railroad might choose concrete ties over wood ties, but generally they all boil down to economics. Concrete ties are a fairly new development, at least when compared to the many decades when ties were exclusively made of wood. Replacing wood ties with concrete ones is not an easy nor inexpensive task, so you mainly find concrete on lines that were built or rebuilt within the past few decades. When wood ties are damaged or wear out, it’s just easier to replace them with new wood ties rather than rebuild and re-ballast the whole track.

There’s also the matter of long term versus short term costs. Concrete ties are heavier than wood, more expensive to make and lay, and require better roadbed and ballast than many existing lines may have. Wood also does a good job at electrically isolating the rails from each other, important for signal detection. And while it’s true that concrete is more long lasting than wood, wood is more resilient to damage. Dragging equipment or a derailment that would bang up a wood tie might crack an unyielding concrete tie in half, rendering it useless. Because of this, railroads tend to place dragging-equipment detectors closer together in concrete-tie territory.
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As always, there is a lot more nuance than is available on the internet....

Because concrete ties are heavier, they can't be replaced by hand. (Yes, tie replacement can and is still done by hand in many cases.) This means that to change the ties over from wood to concrete a stretch of track means that it needs to be pulled out of service and have all of the ties replaced en masse. Then there is the whole issue about track structure stiffness - concrete ties are much more stiff and rigid, and so the track needs to be transitioned from tie type to tie type. If this is not done properly, the rail will eventually fracture where the two track types meet as the vibrations and rolling waves change there due to how the structure changes.

What the TTC has done in several places is gone to plastic ties. They are a direct replacement for wooden ones and require no change to the track structure. Better yet, they can be installed and removed by hand, require no additional protection from stray electrical currents and last almost as long as concrete ties. There are a bunch of places where they have been already been used on the Yonge Line and Bloor-Danforth. To the uninformed eye, they look like new wooden ties.

In any case, concrete ties are not the cat's meow. You want really, really good and reliable track structure that will last for quite literally 100 years with no* maintenance? Rebuild the track with slab track.

Dan

*The only projected maintenance for any modern slab track is the replacement of insulation underneath the rails at about the half-way point of its lifespan, and the inspection of any drainage now and then. There's no ballast to tamp and refill and clean. There are no ties to inspect and replace.
 
TTC is already starting to slip on some of its RSZ removal targets
  • Southbound St Clair to Summerhill: Mid-August -> Late August
  • Northbound Glencairn to Lawrence West: Mid-August -> Early September
  • Southbound Yorkdale to Lawrence West: Mid-August -> Late-August
  • Westbound Jane to Old Mill: Mid-August -> Late-August
New RSZ
  • Northbound North York Centre to Finch
  • Westbound Warden to Kennedy
To give credit where it is due they did remove the Westbound Broadview to Castle Frank RSZ

I was hoping that with these targets that they had a plan to meet them but I guess we will have to wait and see if they can stick to their schedule or if more and more will be pushed back 🫤

August 6th

Reduced Speed Zones

web.archive.org web.archive.org

Today

Reduced Speed Zones

www.ttc.ca www.ttc.ca
 
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cateran said:
TTC is already starting to slip on some of it's RSZ target removals
  • Southbound St Clair to Summerhill: Mid-August -> Late August
  • Northbound Glencairn to Lawrence West: Mid-August -> Early September
  • Southbound Yorkdale to Lawrence West: Mid-August -> Late-August
  • Westbound Jane to Old Mill: Mid-August -> Late-August
New RSZ
  • Northbound North York Centre to Finch
  • Westbound Warden to Kennedy
To give credit where it is due they did remove the Westbound Broadview to Castle Frank RSZ

I was hoping that with these targets that they had a plan to meet them but I guess we will have to wait and see if they can stick to their schedule or if more and more will be pushed back 🫤

August 6th

Reduced Speed Zones

web.archive.org web.archive.org

Today

Reduced Speed Zones

www.ttc.ca www.ttc.ca
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North York Centre to Finch has a problem with the cross over but I thought they fixed it?
 
Bordercollie said:
North York Centre to Finch has a problem with the cross over but I thought they fixed it?
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According to the TTC there is now a slow zone there where there wasn't one a week ago

As to why that is? I am not nearly connected enough to give you any sort of answer to that
 
Another hydraulic fluid leak from a subway work car at Islington this morning. Shuttle busses Kipling to Islington. The subway was crawling WB from Coxwell at 7:10 and I assume that is related.

Edit for clarity
 
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PL1 said:
Another hydraulic fluid leak from a subway work car at Islington this morning. Shuttle busses Kipling to Islington. The subway was crawling WB from Coxwell at 7:10 and I assume that is related.

Edit for clarity
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How many times do they need to cause the same problem before they learn and take action? People have placed to be. They can't be inconvenienced by utter incompetence.
 
DSCToronto said:
No streetcars on 5111 until 2 September due to emergency overhead repairs. Not good for CNE!
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Heard Stuart Green on the radio this morning talking about this. IIRC he said there was arcing at a TTC property at King & Shaw that they've identified as being related to the additional service streetcars they've been running and therefore the decision was made to remove the streetcars from Bathurst before this stress causes a power out.

I suspect he meant to say that the power station is actually the one on Shaw North of Queen (though I may have been too tired to hear him properly)
 
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